Ayesha Roscoe

It's now officially spring.

The vernal equinox was yesterday, and for people in the American West, it marked the end of a winter that wasn't.

NPR's Western correspondent Kirk Sigler is in Boise and joins us now.

Thanks for being with us.

So just how hot was this winter in the West?

And snow is the main water supply in the West, right?

And up until this weekend, the West has also been dealing with a heat dome.

And some have recorded their earliest ever triple digit temperatures.

In the mountains, that's causing rapid snow melt.

So, Kirk, is there even that much snow left to melt at this point after such a dry winter?

Is there any hope that things could turn around or is it too late and we're likely headed toward a smoky summer?

Oh, my goodness.

So, I mean, all of this has extraordinary environmental consequences, but that sounds like it's also going to have some big economic consequences.

Yeah.

That's NPR's Kirk Sigler in Boise.

Thank you so much for joining us.

And I'm Aisha Roscoe.

Elena Twork produced today's podcast with help from Michael Radcliffe and Dave Mistich.

Ed McNulty was our editor today with Fernando Naro, Hannah Block, Andrew Sussman, and Eric Whitney.

Shannon Rhodes is our senior supervising editor.